"After a ten-year ban on flying and six months of preparations, the airfield at Nordhausen, which was to be used mainly by gliders, reopened on 23 June 1990.
The main reason for the ban, which had been imposed by GDR authorities from August 1979 to 1989, was the vicinity of the border, as it was only 15 kilometres away. The ban affected numerous airfields that were located close to the inner-German border. I myself had been a flying instructor since 1957. However, due to my 'Western relatives' (my brother lived in the Federal Republic), my pilot’s license was revoked in 1979.
As things came to a head in the GDR in the autumn of 1989, our hopes rose for a fresh start for aviation in a united Germany, including Nordhausen. On 3 January 1990, a group of active aviation fans and people who had been prevented from pursuing their hobbies held a meeting to discuss developing a new and peaceful form of sporting aviation in Nordhausen. It was early 1990 and there was a lot to be done. We were presented with a hall that we then used as a hangar. We agreed on a charter for the newly founded Nordhausen Aviation Club and held democratic elections for its board.
Ever since reopening in June 1990, Nordhausen airfield has been a successful operation, and maintained close and friendly contact with neighbouring fields in what used to be the West, especially in Hattorf Osterode.
I, too, was able to get my pilot’s license back. Until 1994, when I was deemed unfit to fly for medical reasons, I devoted much of my retirement to getting the sport of aviation off the ground again in Nordhausen."
Karl-Heinz Bosse (Nordhausen)
